Results from a phase III clinical trial indicate that low doses of two chemopreventive agents, an anti-inflammatory and an experimental compound, are highly effective at preventing the recurrence of the lesions that are often precursors to colorectal cancer.

Trial results presented yesterday at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting in San Diego, CA, showed that, compared with participants in the placebo arm, those treated with a combination of the investigational compound difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) and the anti-inflammatory agent sulindac had their risk of colon polyp recurrence reduced by 70 percent. More important, the results showed that the treatment was most effective in preventing the recurrence of the highest-risk polyps, advanced adenomas, demonstrating a 92 percent reduction. Read more

Mutant Gene Linked to Aggressive Leukemia

Researchers have identified a common genetic change in Philadelphia chromosome (BCR-ABL1)-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), an aggressive leukemia that carries a poor prognosis. The change alters the gene IKZF1, which produces the protein Ikaros, and appears to be an important lesion in this ALL subtype, the researchers reported online in the April 13 Nature.

Ikaros plays a key role in regulating the normal development of lymphocytes. The IKZF1 gene alterations were detected as part of an ongoing effort to identify genetic abnormalities in ALL. Dr. James Downing of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and his colleagues analyzed DNA copy number changes in 304 ALL cases, including 21 children and 22 adults with BCR-ABL1-positive disease. Read more

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